Saturday, 5 April 2014

My Weekly Book Haul: 05/04/14

Friday Finds is something that was started over on ShouldBeReading and Stacking the Shelves over at TyngaReviews, I am in love with all of these as I love finding other blogs to follow and books to read through these! So check them all out and see what you find, Stacking the Shelves has a lot of participants as well which is great. This is basically a way for me to show what books I have received, borrowed or bought each week. All book covers and their summary come from back of book or Goodreads.

I've had a really great week when it comes to the blog. The amazing Amanda at Book Badger designed my new header and pretty much all of the new headers and side bar stuff you see. She did in all within a couple of days and I am beyond pleased with it all. I had been meaning to redesign for so long but it had seemed like such a big and daunting task. It was much easier when there was someone encouraging me the whole time and willing to help me whenever I got stuck.

Other than that, it's just been all work this week. I am looking forward to next week as I will be going to London Book Fair. I don't really know what to expect but they have some great authors lined up, so I am very excited.

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it. When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cut-out of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is travelling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.

This has such amazing reviews, I just had to try it. It was only £1 on Amazon, so I thought I'd get it and give it a try.

Avery knows she should stay away from Cam Hamilton: he might be the hottest guy on campus but she really doesn’t need that sort of drama right now. Love is best left in the past – along with her troubles. But sometimes, the last thing you want, is just the thing you need …

I borrowed Be With Me and realised it was a sequel. I saw this at a London charity shop and picked it up for only £2. I think I actually prefer the US cover though, this ones too chicklit for my tastes.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, killing everyone she loves, Evie realizes her hallucinations are actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening.

But she can’t do either alone.Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate, the gorgeous and dangerous Jackson Deveaux, for help.As Jackson and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call and discover that Evie is not the only one with special powers. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and as the battle between good and evil intensifies, it is not always clear who is on which side...

I have never read any Kresley Cole. These look interesting but I am still not sure.

Years after a violent war destroyed much of the world, Kaspar has grown up in a society based on peace and harmony. But beyond the city walls, a vicious band of rebels are plotting to tear this peace apart. It is up to the Guardians - an elite peacekeeping force - to protect the city, without ever resorting to the brutal methods of their enemy.When Kaspar joins the Guardians, he has a chance encounter with a rebel - a beautiful girl named Rhea. Haunted from that moment on by strange visions and memories - memories that could only belong to Rhea - he realises he hasn't been told the truth about what the rebels really want, and what he's really fighting for.

When Elanor’s near-death experience opens a door to a world inhabited by bold, beautiful Madeline, she finds her life quickly spiraling out of control

Fourteen-year-old Elanor Moss has always been an outcast who fails at everything she tries—she's even got the fine, white scars to prove it. Moving was supposed to be a chance at a fresh start, a way to leave behind all the pain and ugliness of her old life. But, when a terrible car accident changes her life forever, her near-death experience opens a door to a world inhabited by Madeline Torus . . . Madeline is everything Elanor isn’t: beautiful, bold, brave. She is exactly what Elanor has always wanted in a best friend and more—their connection runs deeper than friendship. But Madeline is not like other girls, and Elanor has to keep her new friend a secret or risk being labeled “crazy.” Soon, though, even Elanor starts to doubt her own sanity. Madeline is her entire life, and that life is drastically spinning out of control. Elanor knows what happens when your best friend becomes your worst enemy. But what happens when your worst enemy is yourself?With her debut novel, The In-Between, Barbara Stewart presents a bold new voice in teen fiction.

Trapped outside her body, Anna sees and hears but cannot touch the one she longs to hold. Anna has a secret: she can astrally project out of her body. But when there's an accident and her classmate Taylor gets into Anna's body, what was an exhilarating gift threatens to become a terrifying reality. Anna and her best friend Rei form a plan to set things right, but they don't anticipate the feelings that are beginning to grow between them. Auracle by Gina Rosati is an exciting, sensual novel that explores the relationship between body and soul and the power of a single touch.

Before her mother died, Shelby promised three things: listen to her father, love as much as possible, and live without restraint. Those Promises become hard to keep when Shelby's dad joins the committee for the Princess Ball, where girls must take a vow of purity - no "bad behaviour", no breaking the rules, and definitely no sex.Torn between Promises, Shelby makes a decision - to exploit a loophole and lose her virginity before taking the vow. But somewhere between failed hookup attempts and helping her dad plan the ball, Shelby begins to understand what her mother really meant, what her father really needs, and who really has the right to her purity.

How long will it take for society to unravel in the dark?Pandora's seventeenth birthday starts with betrayal. When her long-lost father sends her a birthday greeting with a link to twelve childhood photographs. Pandora unwittingly unleashes a computer virus that shuts down the global power grid.No Internet. No cell phones. No light, traffic signals, 911, or first responders. Only Pandora's Box, a virtual-reality game created by Pandora's father, remains up and running. Together with her neighbors, gorgeous stepbrothers Eli and Theo, Pandora must find the key to cracking her father's computer code to save the world from complete annihilation.

Living in the aftermath of the Event means that seeing the dead is now a part of life, but Veronica wishes that the ghosts would just move on. Instead, the ghosts aren't disappearing-they're gaining power. When Veronica and her friend, Kirk, decide to investigate why, they stumble upon a sinister plot. One of Veronica's high school teachers is crippled by the fact that his dead daughter has never returned as a ghost. Veronica seems like the perfect body to host her. And even if he's wrong, what's the harm in creating one more ghost?

Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare ...

Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well - until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street, where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core.Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he's determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached.But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won't be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her . . . down to the very soul.

This has been recommended to me so much... But come on, 'down to the very soul'. Bleurgh!

Divided by day and night and on the run from authorities, star-crossed young lovers unearth a sinister conspiracy in this compelling romantic thriller.Seventeen-year-old Soleil Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller prohibited by law from going out during the day. When she fakes an injury in order to get access to and kidnap her newborn niece—a day dweller, or Ray—she sets in motion a fast-paced adventure that will bring her into conflict with the powerful lawmakers who order her world, and draw her together with the boy she was destined to fall in love with, but who is also a Ray.Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights, and a fast-paced romantic adventure story.

YES! I am beyond excited to get this one, it looks so good and I love that cover.

Some sixteen-year-olds babysit for extra cash. Some work at the Gap. Becca Williamson breaks up couples.

After watching her sister get left at the altar, Becca knows the true damage that comes when people utter the dreaded L-word. For just $100 via paypal, she can trick and manipulate any couple into smithereens. With relationship zombies overrunning her school, and treating single girls like second class citizens, business is unfortunately booming. Even her best friend Val has resorted to outright lies to snag a boyfriend.One night, she receives a mysterious offer to break up the homecoming king and queen, the one zombie couple to rule them all: Steve and Huxley. They are a JFK and Jackie O in training, masters of sweeping faux-mantic gestures, but if Becca can split them up, then school will be safe again for singletons. To succeed, she'll have to plan her most elaborate scheme to date and wiggle her way back into her former BFF Huxley’s life – not to mention start a few rumors, sabotage some cell phones, break into a car, and fend off the inappropriate feelings she’s having about Val’s new boyfriend. All while avoiding a past victim out to expose her true identity.No one said being the Break-Up Artist was easy.

Another one I was really excited to receive. It looks like an interesting read and I have seen some great reviews.

83 comments:

Oooh very very nice!! I recently read Kreslet Cole's books myself just this year! These two at least, and they were awesome! It's a different kind of apocalyptic setting and while the first one takes a little while to get really good, it does get really, really good! And the second one was even better!!! Oh man, it was awesome! Has a bit of cliffhanger too, just so you know!

The rest are new to me! But as I said, I did enjoy these three here! Hope you love all your new reads!!

And Doomed! Ooh I loved that one! Scared the living daylights out of me, because I could see this happening in our future. There are people who are super brainy and all and I wouldn't put it past them to create such a virus! Imagine, living in a world with zero working technology. Credit cards, ain't happening. Cell phones and computers? Yeah right! And even a scare of no medical help when it comes to them needing all those machines and other electric gizmos! Scary stuff!! I ended up giving this away in a Halloween giveaway last year because it terrified me!

Awesome haul. I'm another one who couldn't get enough of Doomed! It was incredible and easily my favourite book so far this year. Can't wait to see what you think of it. Flat Out Love was another favourite of mine, little Celeste clearly stole the show in that one.

WOW...what a great book haul!!! You have one of my favorites on there, Flat out Love. Such a wonderful story!!! I'm dying to read Plus One and I've never heard of The Break-Up Artist which looks really amazing!!! :)

Flat-Out Love…words cannot express how much I loved that book!!!!! I hope you love it too.

Poison Princess and Endless Knight…Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! The ending of Endless Knight just killed me. Poison Princess started off a bit weird and I wasn't sure I would like it but I ended up loving it and Endless Knight was even better. One of the few sequels that I rated higher than the first book.

Your book hauls always amazing me... o.O HOW DO YOU KEEP UP??!! I won The Poison Princess, buuut I've yet to start it because the covers kind of make me think it's going to be a complete kissing book (how awful am I?! judging books by their covers like that...I ought to be ashamed. xD) I can't wait to see what you think of Plus One! I've heard, like, zero good things about it, which is SUCH a shame because it's one I'd love to read.

Honest answer, I don't keep up. I hoard books in the hopes that I will one day manage to get to them. I AM TERRIBLE!!!! It's a real problem. Haha.... Oh man, I didn't know Plus One got terrible reviews =/

Great haul! :) Wait For You was good even though it didn't end up being my favourite book by Armentrout. I hope you enjoy Plus One, I've been dying to read it forever (or at least it seems like forever..). Enjoy your books and have a great weekend! :)

Awesome haul! I love Wait for You. I also saw the one with UK cover in a bookstore last week, but I prefer the US cover too. I also have Poison Princess. It's been on my bookshelf for waaaay too long. I wonder if I'll ever get to it. Plus One looks great too! =D

Dang, what a haul hun! Lots of fantastic books, and I'm jealous you got Plus One for review, that's fantastic! You've done brilliantly with the design hun, lots of it was you, so don't undersell yourself, you were great :D

WOW, really good haul! I love Kresley Cole, but I haven't read her YA stories yet. Her more adult series are awesome, though.I love your new header, and also the headers for reviews/ haul etc. Well done!

Thanks for stopping by earlier. I hope you've had a wonderful weekend.

I'm waiting on my copy of The Break-Up Artist to arrive. It sounds great. I don't know why contemporaries are drawing me in so much at the moment. What happened to all of the paranormals and the kick-butt girls?

Holy smokes, what an awesome haul! Flat Out Love and Wait for You are on my TBR and I just seen on a TTT post that Flat Out Love is amazing and listed as one of the most unique books, so THAT definitely spices it up! I hope you enjoy all your books :D

Why do I love all of your books this week? Why do you ALWAYS haul in such amazing books?! To pick one to mention, Wait For You seems to be loved by just about everyone who's read it, so that one's definitely on my TBR:)

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, it always makes my day! Because of time restraints, this is now an award free zone but thanks so much for considering me! Feel free to leave a link to your own blog and I will come visit.